FEBRUARY, 1908.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. . 37 
He then proceeds :—‘‘ I enclose a photograph showing an Orchid house 
in Java, with a mixed collection of plants, Lelias, Cattleyas, Cypripedes, 
Phalznopsis, Dendrobes, Vandas, Ccelogynes, Oncidiums, and Miltonias. 
There is a Phalenopsis there which looks like a cross between P. violacea 
and sumatrana. In leaf it resembles P. violacea, in flower P. sumatrana, 
but the blotching is pale brown, thick, and somewhat confluent, not in 
regular lines. It is a singular plant and the name appears to be unknown, 
The Phalznopsis Schilleriana has 120 flowers and five or six leaves, the 
largest leaf measuring about fifteen inches. The house is span-roofed, about 
thirty feet long by seventeen wide, and seventeen high to the ridge, the roof 
being formed of ordinary roofing tiles, with alternate rows of glass tiles, 
and the sides are formed of bamboo blinds. It has cement floors and 
staging. The plants are very healthy, and almost all the year there is a 
continuity of bloom. Surrounding the house are tall trees, which do not, 
however, shut out the light. Vanda teres, V. Hookeriana, V. X Miss 
Joaquim, and Arachnanthe moschifera are grown here, in open beds of soil, 
Staked like peas. All are doing well, and were in flower when I last saw 
them, and were about eight feet high. The average shade temperature 
would be about 70°, but they were in a fairly sunny situation.: 
‘IT send you a species of bee which I captured in my Orchid house with 
the pollen cf Aérides sticking to its head. It may interest readers to know 
something of the insects that fertilise Orchids in Java. The bee is known 
in the vernacular or native language as ‘ Kombang,’ and has a long proboscis. 
It affects Aérides, sometimes Vandas, but chiefly strongly-scented Orchids. 
As a rule, small black ants do most of the fertilising of Javan Orchids, 
which seem to readily and easily become fertilised, producing healthy pods, 
from Phalznopsis to Bulbophyllum. Asa rule, all my plants form a pod 
or two without any assistance from me. I have been crossing Phalznopsis 
with Vanda suavis, Dendrobes with Vandas, Bulbophyllum with Ccelogyne, 
and get healthy-looking pods, but time will alone show whether any results 
come from these experiments. Recently a Vanda helvola crossed by 
Phalzenopsis grandiflora matured a healthy pod, which burst after eight 
months and twenty days. The seed looked healthy, but I have not seen 
any results so far. A Dendrobium formosum crossed with D. mutabile 
about nine months ago is still immature, so that the duration of time varies. 
Arundinas and Spathoglottis are very quick to mature. There are a few 
seedling plants growing that I picked off the rooting material of other 
Orchids, so that with patience and time, and experimenting, I may be 
rewarded with some startling novelty.” 
[The bee sent has been kindly identified for us, at the British Museum, 
as Xylocopa tenuiscapa, one of the Carpenter bees. It is widely distributed 
in India, Java and the Philippines.—ED.] 
